Mary Edwards Walker (1832 - 1919)



Mary Edwards Walker was an US abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

In 1855, she earned her medical degree at Syracuse Medical College in New York, married, and started a medical practice. She volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital in Washington, D.C., even though at the time women and sectarian physicians were considered unfit for the Union. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

After the war, she was approved for the Medal of Honor, for her efforts to treat the wounded during the Civil War. Notably, the award was not expressly given for gallantry in action at that time, and in fact was the only military decoration during the Civil War. Walker is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. After the war, she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women's suffrage movement. Source: Wikipedia

Known for
First female U.S. Army surgeon

Prohibitionist,

Abolitionist,

First and only female Medal of Honor recipient

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